What are the best restaurants in Beijing? Or - what's your favourite restaurant in Beijing? Two questions I dreaded during my stretch as Dining Editor on city expat magazine the Beijinger. In 2012 and then again in 2013 I was asked to compile a Top 20 Beijing Restaurants Round-Up for CNN. Gulp. You can see what I came up with here.

The problem with these lists is that they need to be tourist-friendly (hole-in-the-walls with Chinese menus only can't qualify) and they have to cover off various price brackets. Places should be relatively easy to get to and find for the non Chinese speaker, be not too far out of centre, and let customers order in English. Also restaurants ought largely to be Chinese in either cuisine or style / influence, and big enough / established enough that they won't close a month after the article goes live.

Sadly, since the list was compiled, Maison Boulud is no more. Didn't see that one coming. Also, Aria isn't quite what it was, although their light could shine brightly again with the right chefs. But hit up any of the other places on the list and you should be guaranteed a great feed.